In the month or so that I took a blogging break, things were downright nutty around here. I mentioned that we had some family come in town, and now I’ll elaborate. In yesterday’s post I talked about my weekend trip to Jax for a surprise party – so I figured with all the family and friend fun times, I could just mash up the visits together and make one big photo dump post to catch everyone up on what’s been going on.

One on hand, I totally realize this is kinda cheap and corny (to throw it all into one post). But on the other, I’m trying my best to achieve a balance that’s tough to strike, between wanting to cover events that are fun and important to me, without boring the pants off everyone reading. I know that the minutia of my personal life isn’t nearly as fascinating to y’all as I find it – and with respect to that, I’m trying to not drown you in lame-o posts about very ordinary things. I do realize, however, that for people who know me in person and hang out with me, there’s a certain expectation of making it into the blog when we hang out. Or least a nervous reluctance that you probably will end up on here at some point.

So. With all that meta debate established, I’m cool with going ahead and mentioning a little bit about several different events and then slamming y’all with a photo dump. Cool? Good.

First up, my cousins Justin and Nicole came up here from Florida. I hadn’t seen them in over a year, and having them come up to New York (and Canada) for a while was awesome. They’ve grown up so very much, and realizing just how different they’ve become in 15 months makes me sad to be as far away from them as I am. I knew both of them in vitro, and have seen their growing up firsthand, until I moved to Hawaii. We had a great time and made sure to squeeze in as much as we could – like going boating on the lake, doing arts and crafts, cooking out, etc. etc. In addition to having them up here, my sister Anna and her boyfriend Jared drove over to come visit with them as well. They live north of Albany, so it’s not too much of a hike. Having everyone all in Fredonia was both awesome and crazy. It was a lot of moving parts to keep track of, that’s for sure!

All in all, we had a great time – and I was super sad to see everyone go.

Like less than a week later, my Dad and Step-Mom (Anna) came up here to see us! They took a big trip up from Florida and we were their first stop. Neither Duggs or I had seen them since they came out to visit us in Hawaii (remember that post?), so hanging out with Viper and Anna was long, long overdue. We had an awesome time. Lots of hanging out, some rambling, we went shooting, hung out with other family members that live in the area, went out to eat, and who knows what else. Oh yeah, Dad took me to a doctor’s appointment and got to meet one of my new docs up here. We dedicated a lot of their trip to just spending quality time together, not necessarily focused on an event or an activity. And that was good, it was just great to hang out all together.

So that covers the two big events of us hosting folks up here.

As y’all already know, last weekend I flew down to Florida to go hang out and get crazy with my old college pals. I went to UNF in Jacksonville, FL from 2001-2005. After graduating, I stayed in town for several years (like four?) where I worked and lived and kept partying with my college friends in some weird pattern of extended adolescence. It was very rad, and I loved the years I spent in Jax. The beaches are great, the community is great, I loved riding my beach cruiser everywhere and getting to surf after work. It was just an awesome place to live, and I miss it often. Well, I miss the friends most of all – but Jax too. It’s a very rad town! I didn’t get a ton of pics (partying + mob mentality + not having a flash = lame, blurry, too dark photos), but a couple of the ones that are okay I threw into the photo dump here.

As much fun as I had reuniting with my pals, and wishing one of my dearest dudes, Cory Lee, a happy birthday – man, there is NO place like home. And at this point in time, I’m confident to say that Western New York sure does feel like home. I’m glad to be back and I’m happy to be here. I was just going through some pics from this summer- snap shots from runs I’ve been on, photos of the dogs being silly, and I can easily say that I love my now-life.

Thanks to everyone who hung out this summer and contributed to some super fun times! Hawaii was amazing, but it was lonely – so seeing loved ones again is a very very nice thing. It’s wonderful and fills my cold little heart with a whole mess of happiness.

As always, thanks for reading my blog!! XOXO, HHR

Without further ado… THE PICS:

ha.

sunday morning, i located my boot – inside cory’s fridge. i had used the boot to transport beer, and out of laziness just put it in there to keep the beer cold, instead of taking the booze out of the boot.

too much of this = not taking enough pics during my trip

me helping cory decide between the lost and found clothing items. i used to work at paco’s, i love that place.

cory was wearing a tank top, and thus had to borrow clothes from paco’s lost and found so that he could get past the ritz’s dresscode. love it.

cory, dres, and me – at la nop, the best food ever

a blurry photo of my pals picking me up from the airport in jax

aunt patty came over to say hey

uj, our great uncle john

me, shooting in the same kind of prone position i hold when i’m paddling

My alma mater, THE University of North Florida will be hosting the next GOP Debate this Thursday. From the school’s official FB Page I’ve been able to see the CNN buses rolling in and setting up.

cnn is on campus, rolling right onto the green!

This is really big for our school.

Our serene state school, set on acres of protected wildlife preservation, is a beautiful, special, and totally sprawling and dominating university! The growth was abundant back when I was there, in the early 2000’s (ehh, I spent roughly the first half of that decade there) we were up-and-coming. I spent three years in the student government, hearing about the plans for building more dorms, a student union, and all kinds of projects that have long since had their ribbons cut.

prepping the inside of lazzara performance hall for the debate

Now, it’s time for good ole UNF to shine in the spotlight.

So, get it Ospreys! Swoop hard. I’m so proud to be an alum right now.

….

PS, i’m no ‘publican, I’m just stoked for the school to have a major event like such.

Oh, and while we’re talking about UNF – I just have to say, I love to swoop. Know why? Because I totally invented “the swoop!” I totally and honestly made it up at a pep rally and just went with it. It was fodder for mockery at the time, people snickering and giggling at me as I pitifully tried to pump up the crowds (my friends) during pep rallies (I was Prez of the spirit club, go figure).

I have no proof of this. But as I see it, I coined the phrase that’s totally taken over.